Tuesday, January 25, 2022

E. Cecil McGavin, Cumorah’s “Gold Bible” (1940): "Alexander Campbell Pleads for a Restoration"

  

Alexander Campbell Pleads for a Restoration

 

“On various occasions he said of this problem:

 

The spirit of God has been moving the minds of such men as Glos, Sandeman, and others to plead for a restoration of the ancient Gospel” (W. T. Moore, A Comprehensive History of the Disciples of Christ, p. 432)

 

Hence we cherish the hope and breathe the prayer that the spirit of missionary zeal and of primitive simplicity may shed its effulgence on our American Zion . . .  (The Christian Baptist. [Preface])

 

It is obvious to the most superficial observer who is at all acquainted with the state of Christianity and of the church of the New Testament, that much, very much, is wanting, to bring the Christianity and the church of the present day up to that standard . . . (Ibid., p. 127)

 

All wise and good men expect a millennium, or a period of great happiness upon earth. They all argue that greater light than that hitherto possessed will be universally enjoyed. They do not merely expect a universal subjugation of all nations, kindreds, and tongues, to the Lord Jesus; they do not merely expect a state of harmony, perfect peace and union among all the citizens of heaven; but they look for a vast accumulation of light and knowledge, religious, moral, and political. They do not, however, expect a new Bible or any new revelation of the Spirit, but only a more clear and comprehensive knowledge of the sacred writings which we now enjoy. This belief and expectation of all wise and good men, is unequivocally declarative of the conviction that the scriptures are not now generally understood, and that there are new discoveries of the true and genuine meaning of these sacred records yet to be made.

 

I am fully aware of the difficulties under which these Christians withdrew from the popular establishments. They were sick of frivolous formalities, tired with the poor entertainment of insipid speculation, and traditional prescriptions, and desirous of understanding and living upon the Book of God. But they have lost the key of interpretation, or rather they withdrew from the popular establishments with much esteem for the Bible, but with the textuary notions expounding it. They did not know or feel that when they commenced interpreting for themselves, they were only using the tools which they carried from the pulpits which they had forsaken. A restoration of the ancient order of things is all that is necessary to the happiness and usefulness of Christians. (Ibid., p. 128)

 

But a restoration of the ancient order of things, it appears, is all that is contemplated by the wise disciples of the Lord. . . . Many there were who, wearied with the denominational strife, and restive under ecclesiastical domination, awaited a prophet whose aim was spiritual emancipation, and whose strong and fearless leadership they would trust. (T. W. Grafton, Life of Alexander Campell, p. 116)

 

An era is just as the door, which will be known as the Regeneration for a thousand years to come. . . . The Lord Jesus will soon rebuild Jerusalem, and rise up the Tabernacle of David which has so long been in ruins. Let the church prepare herself for the return of her Lord, and see that she make herself ready for his appearance. But the preparation of a people for the coming of the Lord must be the result of the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things. . . . (Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, p. 310)

 

Besides, do not the experience of all the religious—the observations of the intelligent—the practical result of all creeds, reformations,  and improvements—and the expectations and longings of society—warrant the conclusion that either some new revelation, or some new development of the revelation of God must be made, before the hopes and expectations of all true Christians can be realized, or Christianity save and reform the nations of the world? We want the old gospel back, and sustained by the ancient order of things: and this alone, by the blessing of the Divine Spirit, is all that we do want, or can expect, to reform and save the world.

 

For a divine warrant has always been essential to any acceptable worship. The question, ‘Who has required this at your hands’ must always be answered by a ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ before an offering of a mortal man can be acknowledged by the Lawgiver of the universe. ‘In vain,’ said the Great Teacher, ‘Do you worship God, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’

 

Still a regular and constant ministry was needed among the Jews, and is yet needed among the Christians; and both of these by divine authority. (Ibid., p. 250)

 

The ‘signs of the times’ indicate some wonderful revolution in the state of the world. This every candid and careful observer must see. To close our eyes, therefore, against is, is to act as the Ephesians did when the uproar was raised by the teachings of Paul. (The Christian Baptist, VI:517)

 

We have to pattern after the first (church) as well as we can, but we can never equal it. With all our efforts the great disparity will ever remain, and could the apostles and primitive Christians be here, they would doubtless weep at beholding it. (Millennial Harbinger, V:40)

 

We are convinced, fully convinced, that the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint of modern fashionable Christianity. . . . It is not the prescription of zealously engaging in all the projects of converting the world, recommended by the popular clergy, that will heal the diseases of the people; but it is an abandonment of every human scheme, and a submission to learn and study Christianity as developed in the Bible. This is the course, and the only course, that will effect a cure and renovate the constitution. (The Christian Baptist, I:33)

 

And while I write and labor as I do, he that knows the hearts of all flesh knows that I do it from the fullest conviction from his oracles that the Christianity of our day is a corrupt Christianity, and that the ancient order of things is lost sight of in almost all denominations of professing Christians. (Ibid., IV:285)

 

It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous, that there are many creeds as there are opinions among men; as many doctrines as inclinations; and as many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, and explain them as arbitrarily. And as there is but one faith, so there is but one God, one Lord, and one baptism. We renounce this one faith when we make so many different creeds; and that diversity is the reason why we have no true faith among us. We can not be ignorant that since the Council of Nice, we have done nothing but make creeds. (Ibid., IV:296) (E. Cecil McGavin, Cumorah’s “Gold Bible” [Salt Lake City: The Deseret News Press, 1940], 9-12)